Summer Madness

I have been making the concerted effort to maintain some level of order in this home since Summer broke up into our world. Not that I don't adore this sizzling Season, it's just that our days have been...well, unstructured. And truthfully, I wouldn't classify myself as a very structured person to begin with (~ZIP IT~ to those of you who are screaming about that being the understatement of the year!).
Anyway, when there is no direction in this house, it equates boredom, which equates trouble. We have been running pretty much every which way but loose since the beginning of June, with the only reprieve being this week. We have been doing random things as the mood suits us, and any semblance of our regularly scheduled programming has flown the coop. The kids are fighting and whining and I am having a hard time wanting to get out of my p.j.'s.
Soooo, I decided to remedy this as much as possible. We are starting back to, what I will call, "school-lite" on Monday. This may come across as cruel, but I tell ya, this crazy "nothingness" is waaaay more torture, in my book.
We will still head to the pool and all of our Summertime activities, but during those directionless days, we are going to have something to do in the learning department. Besides, when will they ever get 3 months off at a time as an adult? So, that's my plan...
I also wanted to mention that I bought a Bible study for Ty (10) yesterday which he really likes. It's covers the first 6 chapters of Daniel which is studied over a 6 week period with the weeks broken into 5 days (think Beth Moore format). These kind of expository studies seem to be really hard to find in the kid realm. It is part of a series by Kay Arthur called: Discover 4 Yourself: Inductive Bible Studies For Kids. The specific one that Ty is doing is You're a Brave Man, Daniel. Check em out if your interested! I wish I knew how to post a link to Amazon with the book's picture, but I don't, so just click the link.
Have a great day everyone! :)

Funny Girls...

Y'all crack me up! Can I just say that in the hope that everyone that's made me laugh over the last few days will read this? I have had the chance to catch up on some of your blogs and I have been giggling through most of them.
AND, I am lovin this bloglines thing. It's so...I don't know...convenient. Gayle, you were right about how much I would love it here (and no, I am not talking to myself, just click the link if you don't already know her ;)
Anyway, just wanted to say that. I am going to bed now.
OH! I kinda wanted to take a poll of sorts, so play along, pretty please!

What is your all-time favorite hymn or worship song? It's alright if you can't pick just one, I just want to know which ones you really feel gets you to a place of awe for the Lord.

Have a great day everyone! :)

Wahoo!

Every now and then I will do something that is deemed "cool" by my otherwise eye-rolling kids. Today was one of those days. On Mondays, while the kids are in gymnastics, I usually sit in the van with the windows rolled down, saturated in a good book. I love that little time of peace and quiet while my boys burn off some of their abundant energy. I could be a good Mom and sit up in the mind-blistering heat near the ceiling of the gym (which is where they so kindly have the risers placed for our viewing pleasure), but I usually pass.
So anyway, I decided to give the boys a blast from the past and ride home with the windows rolled down. These air-conditioned kids didn't know what hit them! They were whooping and hollering like they were in a lost episode of The Dukes of Hazard. If nothing else, I am sure we sounded like the Clampetts coming around the corner. It was hilarious to listen to them giggle and laugh and see their hair all wind-blown. Of course, always armed with my camera, I snapped a picture so that you could see what I was seeing...LOL!

Have a great day everyone!

On Spiritual Gifts...

I have been nursing a migraine today that started about halfway through church this morning. It has been awhile since I have had one of those buggers and forgot how miserable they can be. I always feel kind of weird for about a day after I have had one of them, and now I am wondering if that is normal? Oh well if it isn't, right? :^)
Anyway, our pastor has been preaching a sermon series on spiritual gifts. Unfortunately, I have only been able to hear 1 (today's) out of the whole series because of vacations, nursery, ect., so I am hoping to get a CD of them or download it from the website since today's was so good.
My question, regarding gifts, is this, though: What about the person who knows what his/her gift is but isn't quite sure how to utilize it? You know, as soon as I typed that last sentence, I realized that the answer is actually pretty simple....prayer.
I was already feeling a little convicted about using my gifts in our local body before this sermon series, so now it is all the more confirmed.
I have always felt as though we Mom's are using our gifts by way of rearing our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And I know I am preachin' to the choir to say that THAT is no easy task. Truthfully, I am still a little on the fence about just how much we are to give because I think our priority at this stage in the game has to be our family, BUT, as our respected pastor mentioned today, our gifts are usually directly related to the things that we have a passion for, or a burden about. I definitely have that about my family, for sure, but my heart aches for other areas in Christ's body as well.
Here's my deal: I have been the person (as a pastor's daughter) who has worked her tail off even in the places where I had no business being because "there was nobody else". I got burned out in the worst way, and worse yet, I didn't do anything well because I was doing too much (on top of trying to be a Momma of preschoolers).
Through circumstances waaaay to whack-o to go into in this post, we ended up leaving our beloved church. Shortly thereafter, we began to attend the place where we are now. I had to take some time to heal from said circumstances, so I pretty much hid in the background for awhile. But, when I had sufficiently worked through some things, I still didn't want to deal with the "junk" of being knee-deep in ministry again...ever. I would be willing to bet more than one person reading this can understand what I am saying.
But you know what? That is not what God wants for this life. He doesn't want me to hang out and "watch the game" from the sidelines. He wants me in it, playing with all my might, despite my hurts (which have taught me plenty) and my own goof-ups (which have hopefully given me some much-needed humility).
So here I am, this bag of flesh, asking God to use me in whatever way He sees fit. He knows what He has equipped me with and I am open to the opportunities that He places in front of me.
Can you imagine a church full of people who actually roll up their sleeves and jump right in where God wants them to be? Can you fathom the functionality for Christ with a church like that? Just like a well-oiled machine...anyway, that is my prayer for my local body of believers.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...
Have a great day everyone!

It's goooone

Have you ever become so stupidly obsessed with something that it takes up your whole being? Well, that was me with my new template. And as you can see, it was an obsession that yielded little fruit. I will not risk boring your flip-flops off with all of the gory details, but let's just say that I had a vision and it involved HTML.
I knew exactly what I wanted for my fresh, new home here at blogger, so I set off to find the perfect background and graphics, ect. In the end, I actually CREATED a background in my paint program (no small feat), uploaded to my photobucket account, and then set off into the dark hollows of HTML. It took me alllllll day long, and I wasn't even halfway through with my self-appointed task.
And then, I did it.
I accidentally deleted the whole darn thing. You think losing a post is bad? Oh man! This was borderline hysteria. I literally turned off the computer and decided not to touch anything blog-related for one entire day.
So here it is, my template. Just like any other one you can get, and that is ok by me.
I am going to try to get some pictures and stuff posted to my sidelines over there, but nothing fancy-schmancy, because I am over it. Really.
Have a great day everyone!

Moving In

Well, here is my inaugural post for Life With The Crew on blogger. The switch from HSB has been long in coming, but I am not a creature who particularly loves change.
Anyway, I will be tooling around here over the next few weeks trying to tweak things in my new place, so hang with me as I make some adjustments.
I have an idea for a cool template in my mind, but it is now going to be a matter of getting from my brain to the blog. Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great day everyone...I don't see any smilies around here....:/